CABDRIVER'S LIFE COSTS BABER 15 YEARS

After spending $680,000 in bribe money, corrupting a local political race and tarnishing his family name, James Clyde Baber III ended up on Friday right where he had started two years ago _ facing 15 years in prison.

Ignoring requests for leniency by two prosecutors, a judge on Friday sentenced the furniture executive to a 15-year term and a $10,000 fine for driving head-on into Riviera Beach cabdriver William Knox and killing him after a night at a bar.

"There simply was no reason for Mr. Baber to be on the highway on Nov. 11, 1995, with a .27 blood-alcohol level, and yet there he was," Circuit Judge Edward Garrison said in West Palm Beach. "His conduct is inexcusable and he should be held accountable for those actions."

The DUI-manslaughter sentence, four years shy of the 19-year maximum, comes only two years after Baber indignantly turned down a plea deal from prosecutors, saying a 15-year term was excessive.

Then, he turned around and plowed $680,000 in illegal campaign contributions into his lawyer Phil Butler's 1996 bid for state attorney, after Butler promised to keep him out of prison if elected.

When that scheme failed, Baber went to police and exposed Butler's plot, winning a pledge of immunity in the bribery case in exchange for testimony against Butler and campaign manager Ted Brabham.

But the judge was not impressed by what he considered Baber's selfish motives.

"Jim Baber tried to create a win-win situation. I will not reward that effort," Garrison said. "The sheer audacity of that argument insults the intelligence of this court."

The argument was made by those who watched as Baber helped take down Butler, a former lawyer and drinking buddy.

The Polk County prosecutor who successfully tried Butler and Brabham told Garrison that the pair's corruption would have gone undetected and unpunished had it not been for Baber's forthright admissions.

"It would be selling it short to say [Baber's assistance) was substantial and significant," Polk County State Attorney Jerry Hill said. "Those two other individuals would never have been held responsible but for Mr. Baber's cooperation."

Hill and Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer, who beat Butler in the 1996 campaign despite being outspent by Baber, recommended a sentence close to the 11-year minimum suggested by state guidelines.

Baber's cooperation and the resulting convictions "were extremely important in demonstrating that our judicial system will not tolerate corruption," Krischer wrote in a letter to the court.

But the judge responded, "It sort of begs the question, without Mr. Baber's cooperation and substantial assistance, those crimes would not have been committed."

Garrison agreed, though, not to hold the bribery case against Baber, saying, "The facts in this case are egregious enough."

Instead, Garrison pointed to Baber's record, which includes five drunken-driving arrests and two convictions before the accident that left Knox's two children fatherless.

Saying Baber's family had "enough red flags and warning signals" to get him help, Garrison also suggested that Baber had the financial means to arrange for alternative transportation before the wreck.

Baber, 45, showed no emotion as Garrison read his sentence, but family who steadfastly supported him throughout said they were not surprised.

"It's what I expected," Baber's mother, Evelyn, said outside the courtroom. "But I was just praying it wouldn't happen."

Baber's attorney, Richard Lubin, also said he expected the judge to ignore his arguments that Baber deserved some reduction in sentence.

He pointed out that the judge seemed to be reading from a text he prepared before the hearing.

Lubin said he was at a loss to explain how Fort Myers prosecutor Michael Provost, who tried Baber's case, recommended a 15-year sentence while Hill and Krischer were recommending substantially less.

"It's so ridiculous," he said. "It just shows how arbitrary our system is."

But Dorothy Waters, Knox's longtime girlfriend and the mother of his two children, said she was happy with the sentence Garrison imposed.

"I guess we can go on with our life," she said.

Over the next two months, Lubin and Provost are expected to hash out an agreement as to how much in retribution Baber will pay to the Knox children.

He has already paid $875,000 to settle a civil suit brought by the family.

Lubin is appealing Baber's conviction and has already submitted a request for Garrison to let him out of jail on bond pending the results of the appeal.